Four Downs: Time to shuffle QB rankings

It's a bit too simplistic to note that the quarterbacks in the Atlanta Falcons' romp over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday are heading in different directions, but certainly fantasy owners should react appropriately to the changing values of Matt Ryan and Michael Vick. Ryan got back on his emergent track Sunday in Philly, tossing three first-half touchdown passes, while Vick continues to underachieve, and even in his own words, his starting role appears to be in jeopardy.

For those who sat Ryan in fantasy, due to recent performance and/or weather-related concerns (which didn't become a factor until the second half), he certainly assuaged fears with his 23-fantasy-point effort in ESPN standard formats, and it could have been considerably more had the Eagles made the game competitive earlier. Ryan didn't even need all his elite weapons. Julio Jones embarrassed Nnamdi Asomugha for a 63-yard touchdown and finished with 123 receiving yards, but Roddy White and Tony Gonzalez were relatively quiet.

Meanwhile, youngster Drew Davis caught his first career passes, one for a touchdown, and running back Jason Snelling registered another. Ryan, who barely got his uniform dirty and countered Philly's rush with a league-high 10 screen passes -- he completed nine of them for 81 yards and a score -- bounced back from a disappointing eight-point outing against the Oakland Raiders in Week 6 (he was on bye in Week 7). The schedule is certainly attractive moving ahead, with four of the final nine games against the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Ryan remains a name to trust and my No. 5 quarterback for the rest of the season, ahead of the Manning brothers and Cam Newton.

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Eric Karabell

Eric Karabell is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He has worked at ESPN since 1997 and covered fantasy sports for ESPN since 2001, specializing in baseball and football. Eric contributes to ESPN The Magazine and appears on a variety of digital platforms for ESPN.com. He has been honored twice as fantasy sports writer of the year by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, his blog was named best fantasy baseball series for 2007 and he was inducted into the inaugural FSWA Hall of Fame class in 2011.

Eric grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs, and accordingly, favors all Philly teams first, his fantasy teams second. He previously served as ESPN.com's lead NBA editor, and is a former Washington Post and Philadelphia Inquirer sports writer. Eric is also the author of "The Best Philadelphia Sports Arguments," published by Source Books and available in bookstores and online.